NFA rice pegged at P27 per kilo till August

RETAILERS of the National Food
Authority (NFA) will continue to sell rice to the public at P27 per kilo until
August this year.

Chona Maramba, NFA assistant branch manager in Western Pangasinan, told the KBP
Forum last Thursday that her office is
distributing rice stock to retailers to be sold at P27 per kilo.

She said there are still 117,000 bags of imported rice in seven NFA warehouses, three of which are
located in Lingayen, two in Mangatarem, and one each in Mangaldan and Alaminos
City.

The stock, she said, will be boosted by another 500,000 bags imported from
Vietnam, Myanmar and Pakistan, some of which are now being unloaded at Poro
Point in La Union.

At the same time, she said NFA continues to buy palay from farmers at more than
P20 per kilo, slightly higher than the buying price being offered by
traders because of the incentives given to farmers, their cooperatives and
associations.

Maramba pointed out that while the newly passed Rice Tarification Law that
liberalizes importation and exportation
of rice has removed NFA’s regulatory
function on importation, NFA still has the mandate to buy palay from local
farmers.

Meanwhile. Leni Flores, president of Abono party-list said her organization
will continue to monitor importation to safeguard against over-importation to
protect the interest of local farmers.

She said Abono has filed the bill that penalizes anyone caught over-importing
rice and other agricultural commodities. (Leonardo Micua).